PAST WINNER INTERVIEW
Unity Trust Bank
AWARD CATEGORY: Sustainable Development SIZE OF COMPANY: 275 employees WHERE BASED: Birmingham (HQ), London and Manchester TYPE OF BUSINESS: Finance / Banking PROFILE: Colin Fyfe JOB TITLE: Chief Executive Officer Company Background Unity Trust Bank was founded in 1984 to ‘serve the common good’. Its continuing mission is to be the bank of choice for all socially-minded organisations within the UK, and to help its customers make a positive difference in local communities. The company achieves this by supporting organisations that help drive forward social, economic and environmental change, offering loan proposals which are aligned against one or more of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to ensure the company’s finance is only used to deliver quantifiable impact. Unity Trust Bank is proud to put its core values: integrity, collaboration, enablement, inclusivity and boldness at the heart of its company culture.
Derrick Anderson CBE, West Midlands Lord Lieutenant, presents the King’s Award for Enterprise for Sustainability to Unity colleagues
What made Unity apply for a King’s Award?
How did you find the application process?
As part of Unity’s legal incorporation, we are committed to a ‘double bottom line’ strategy of delivering sustainable good, as well as commercial success. The King’s Award celebrates organisations like Unity that succeed in achieving this. What research did you do about the Awards and application process? We researched the awards previous winners and the criteria to make sure we were a right fit. Having a category for Sustainable Development demonstrates how important it is to do business well in the UK.
The application documents were well structured with clear guidance on how to answer the questions and what points to consider. Did you learn anything about your own compa- ny during the process? Documenting our approach to sustainable development, our interventions and how our objectives and purpose are embedded within our culture was empowering. Talking about our achievements to date, our long-running values as a business and our goals for the future was powerful and rewarding.
What planning did you do beforehand?
As a purpose-driven bank, we regularly report on our financial performance and social impact outcomes to shareholders and stakeholders. We also produce an annual Impact Report alongside our Annual Report and Accounts which includes a thorough overview of our activities and achievements. Because these show how we continue to drive social, economic and environmental change, this meant we were able to easily plan out our Award entry.
In 2024, six Unity customers successfully applied for a £5,000 Unity Impact Grant
www. kingsawardsmagazine .com
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